Statewide voter turnout high for presidential election

WINSTED >> Although President Obama was declared the winner of the 2012 elections on Nov. 6, the results are not official until all of the elections have been certified. Sunday's audit was Winsted's step towards verifying the results, and moderator Debbie Angell said the initial counts were almost entirely accurate.

Mitt Romney, the Republican candidate for the office of President, gained four votes in the audit, but the recount made no difference in the outcome of the results. Romney outvoted Obama in Winsted, and Obama's initial count of 2,211 held up. The accuracy of the initial tallies -- over 99 percent, according to Angell -- was reassuring to Winsted's elections moderator.

"When you're counting 4,700 votes, and you're off by one vote, I don't see that as a problem," she said.

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According to state statutes, 10 percent of Connecticut's voting precincts using electronic scan ballots must be subjected to a hand recount. Secretary of the State Denise Merrill announced the precincts to be included in the audit on Nov. 20, and the last day to perform the audit is Dec. 3. Merrill's office certified the election results on Nov. 28, joining states across the country in confirming President Obama's reelection.

The audit included precincts in Andover, Berlin, Bloomfield, Bozrah, Bridgeport, Chester, Clinton, Colchester, Cornwall, Danbury, East Hartford, East Windsor, Essex, Greenwich, Guilford, Lebanon, Madison, Manchester, Meriden, Middletown, Milford, Naugatuck, New Britain, New Canaan, New Fairfield, Newington, Norwich, Oxford, Plainville, Putnam, Sharon, Shelton, Southington, Tolland, Torrington, Trumbull, Vernon, Wallingford, Waterbury, Waterford, West Hartford, Westbrook, Wethersfield, Winchester, Windsor, Wolcott and Woodbury. Two precincts in Bristol, Cheshire, New Milford, North Branford, Stratford and Westport were included, while three precincts in Hartford and West Haven, four precincts in Stamford and six precincts in New Haven were chosen.

During the announcement of which precincts would be audited, Merrill also announced that 13 towns had not reported their turnout totals. Winchester was on that list, but the town had submitted its results in time for Merrill's office to certify the results. Statewide, 73.77 percent of registered voters cast ballots, which -- although it fell short of the 2008 total of 78.14 percent -- was still the seventh highest percentage nationally.

"Despite the challenges we faced following Hurricane Sandy, Connecticut voters came to the polls with a very strong turnout on Election Day," Merrill wrote in a press release.